Mighty Quiet In Those Streets Today.

I live in Minnesota. The Twin Cities. Over the weekend, a black cop shot a white woman. Both of them born outside the United States. If we really were the racist, horrible society that some have accused us of being, a lot of things should be happening right now that aren’t. But as of 11:24 this morning there have been no freeways blocked, no march on the Governor’s mansion, no press conferences by aggrieved white power groups, no calls for disbanding the police force, nor any retaliation against black people in general.

Mind you, this hasn’t stopped the lunatic left from trying to whip up a frenzy about the brutal police murder of a beautiful yoga instructor who rescued butterflies in her spare time. Nor has it stopped the racist morons from doing the whole “black man shoots blonde white woman” thing – equally despicable in my opinion.

Why, you might ask, is the general public responding with peace and quiet? There are a lot of reasons, some of which I’ll touch on, some of which I’ll ignore – that’s the joy of owning this site: it’s my call.

1. Most people are willing to wait a while to see what actually happened. In the aftermath of a shooting incident, it takes a few days to go over the forensic evidence, gather witness statements, put together a complete timeline, search for video recordings, and generally sort out what led to the loss of a human life.

2. People don’t hate the cops, in general. Most citizens realize that the most police are there to protect them. So going nuts over every incident is not a productive activity. See number 1.

3. There’s always another side to the story. If you honestly look back on incidents like this over the last 10 years, you’ll find most are very different from what appeared in the first 100 hours in the media. The media wants to sell advertising. Truth is often secondary. So, “If it bleeds, it leads” is the rule. Truth be damned. People are tiring of the bait-and-switch, and waiting longer to form their opinions.

4. The left is so conflicted by this story that their heads are about to explode. When you base your program on identity politics, it’s mighty hard to pick the bad guy when both of the actors are protected classes. White, pretty female yoga instructor versus brave immigrant black male. Whoo, doggies! Don’t worry, they’ll sort it out. Someone will be the bad actor here. But for the moment, they just can’t decide. It’s rather delicious to me.

5. Terrible things happen sometimes. This might be one of them. Christians are often willing to give a break until it’s all known. This just might be an awful event that was a product of timing, bad lighting, and fear. I hope not – but when it does roll that way, and it often does, what can we do? Should people go to prison for everything that happens? Or should there be an element of intent. I’m in favor of the latter. Let’s wait and see what happens when the investigation is over.

6. The media machine isn’t spending a lot of time interviewing white-power types in this case, putting them on radio and television to gain a complete frenzy. Why? Well, Nazi types are pretty vile, and it doesn’t help the media with their agenda. So you won’t see much of that happening. Sadly, racists from the minority communities are often featured speakers in these cases, and selective editing gets rid of the offensive parts before it airs.

“Oh, Joe, you’re making that up.”

Nah. The raw video of many of these press conferences is out there if you look. In one recent case, the relative of a person shot by a police officer was shown on television saying, essentially “Don’t bring the violence here, and the ignorance here.” People applauded that sentiment. What didn’t make the air was the rest of the clip, where she told the crowd to go to the suburbs and rampage there instead. Now, that would have balanced out the clip, eh?

My point? If you want to hold an opinion, and never let the facts intrude, you’re the problem. Either way. Bad cops who act with malice should go to prison. Any person who commits a crime with malice should go to prison. But innocents who act in self-defense should not. Sometimes that means that a cop gets shot by a homeowner during the raid on a wrong address. Sometimes a cop shoots someone that isn’t actually a threat to them. But in the instant of the crime, which is all that matters, there was no criminal intent. Needless to say, if you’re a felon, a drug dealer with a weapon, a burglar, etc., you’ve forfeited your right to shoot anyone in self-defense as you’re engaged in criminal activity.

Open minds, not freeway blocking, and a pursuit of the truth are the best courses.

I hope, and pray, that the truth comes out in this case. That’s all I ask: the truth comes out.

In the meantime, be safe out there people in blue. And citizens, when you interact with the blue, be safe as well. Let’s all go home to our own beds tonight.

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About Joseph Courtemanche

I’m a conservative Christian author who’s been happily married for over 30 years. I am a Veteran of the United States Navy, Naval Security Group. I speak a few languages, I have an absurd sense of humor and I’m proud to be an American.